


To Paint the Devil On the Wall

by ChristineBH



Series: The Devil Is Loose (In Salmon street) [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Chaptered, Danish idoms, Date Rape Drug/Roofies, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, Lance (Voltron) is a Good Friend, Law Enforcement, M/M, Non-Consensual Drug Use, POV Keith (Voltron), POV Third Person, Poor Keith, everyone is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:46:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26192140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChristineBH/pseuds/ChristineBH
Summary: Keith is out of the hospital but has to walk around campus with all the anxiety fromthat night.Luckily he had his friends to help him through everything.“It’s a very serious accusation,” the police officer informed Keith.Keith would have said something snarky just a week ago but now he was drained and didn’t have the energy to even try.“You can ruin someone’s life with this,” the officer continued. “Rolf Taylor is a star athlete and his future career will be ruined if this comes out.”
Series: The Devil Is Loose (In Salmon street) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/914043
Comments: 1
Kudos: 27





	1. The Police Station

**Author's Note:**

> _idom_  
>  (At) male Fanden på væggen: To Paint the Devil on the Wall  
>  _To expect the worst_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me forever but I've FINALLY ended this. I wanted to post the second chapter tomorrow but apparantly posted both by accident so now both is here

Nothing was as it used to be. Keith had always been withdrawn but he was becoming more so. People were just always there, and he felt them breathing down his neck.

Keith didn’t remember _that_ night. Not really, but he hadn’t been able to sleep for a week. The darkness kept him awake so he had just sat in the common room with all the light on waiting for the dawn to break before he went back to his dorm room and tried to sleep but never succeeding before his roommate left every morning.

He did try to go to classes but as soon as people saw him they started to send him looks and whisper. At first, Keith had thought that he was just being paranoid but just as he had prepared his own pep talk, he started to hear the same words being thrown around as soon as a group of people saw him. They called him a liar, a snitch. This wasn’t high school and Keith suddenly missed his senior year when people would make a big deal about bringing coffee with them every morning. They had been pretentious but at least it had been better than now when people didn’t care about how childish they acted as they stared Keith down.

Monday turned into Wednesday before he tried to go to class again, but as soon as he saw the crowd of people going into the building he turned around and just walked.

He must have walked for hours when he saw Pidge. The sun was at its highest in the chill fall air.

He saw the moment that Pidge saw him. She stopped for a second and then speed-walked towards Keith.

“Hey, Keith.” Keith could almost see the question marks in her eyes.

“Hey,” he mumbled.

The air was awkward. Pidge was clearly trying to find something to say while Keith was just trying to control himself. He tried to remind himself that nothing had happened today. Nothing had really happened this week. He was just being dramatic.

Keith felt something against his hand and pulled it away as if he had been burned.

“Relax,” Pidge said and barely stopped herself from rolling her eyes. “I was just trying to comfort you.” She looked away with furrowed eyebrows. “Like Lance has done.”

“Lance asks me before he touches me.” Keith knew how standoffish he looked, but he still couldn’t stop himself from crossing his arms. His right arm was between his left one and his chest arm he could feel the nails of his right hand through his left sleeve.

“Okay, if you say so,” Pidge answered in a deadpanned voice that would have told the story of how little she believed him if her straight eyebrows and half-lidded eyes had failed. “Not like he holds your hand all the time or anything.”

“He always asks,” Keith insisted. “He even checks in on it if he has held it for a long time.”

“Really?” Pidge asked as her eyebrows tried to meet in the middle. It was a love story between two light brown caterpillars that would never truly meet but would try several times a day. At least they had done every time she talked to Keith since _that_ night.

“Yes,” Keith confirmed. “Don’t touch me before asking.”

“Okay.” Pidge studied Keith’s face. “Can I hold your hand?”

“Yes,” Keith allowed her. “But don’t hold it too tight.” He set his jaw and looked away before loosening his grip on himself.

“Sure,” Pidge answered. She still seemed unsure about how she should tackle this situation, but she held his hand as lightly as possible. He could barely feel her skin against his and he knew that he would be able to shake it off his with barely any strength.

They stood in silence once more but this one was a pleasant kind. Pidge was brushing her thumb back and forth Keith’s hand. She did it with a jagged movement, but it was comforting all the same.

“Is this because you have to go to the station later today?”

 _Yes_ , his gut told him. “I don’t know,” he said and looked away from her.

Pidge’s thumb stopped moving.

“Do you want to wait in my room until Shiro’s done with his lessons?” Her eyes looked big and innocent as Keith turned his eyes back on her, but he felt safer as he looked at her.

\--

“Were you really raped or just regretted what happened?” the police officer asked. His round face could have looked kind, but his stubble and cold eyes gave him a chilling, unfriendly aura.

Keith’s inside lit on fire, but he strangled the flame before he acted rashly. “He tried to… ra-rape…”

“It’s a very serious accusation,” the police officer informed Keith.

Keith would have said something snarky just a week ago but now he was drained and didn’t have the energy to even try.

“You can ruin someone’s life with this,” the officer continued. “Rolf Taylor is a star athlete and his future career will be ruined if this comes out.”

Keith looked down at his hands. One of his hands was holding the other’s wrist while that one’s thumb was rubbing his index finger. He nodded twice before answering, “Okay.”

Keith didn’t really know why he was told all this. Maybe an attempt to guilt him out of saying anything but his friends had already made sure he would say the truth and he would do it for them. He needed to make them proud. They were all that he had left. Knowing that Shiro was at the station helped even though Keith knew that Shiro would only be able to know anything that happened in this room if Keith decided to tell him. 

“You can still take your statement back.”

“I know,” Keith said even though he didn’t. Keith didn’t know if police officers were allowed to lie, but it sounded and felt like one. Just listening to this officer made his stomach feel full of rocks and his tongue heavy. 

“Are you sure you can live with the outcome of this?” the officer asked.

Keith’s eyes felt warm and he wanted to either hit something or cry. Maybe do both at the same time so he seemed even crazier than he really was.

“I have to live with the outcome of what he did anyway.” Keith shrugged but it was so painfully fake that not even a blind man would have called what Keith did anything close to nonchalance.

“Very well,” The officer sighed as he leaned forward in his seat and pressed the record button on the device between them.

“Tell me about Friday, September 7, 2018,” the officer said slowly and clearly both as an order for Keith to talk and to tell the device the date it was recording Keith about.

Keith took a deep breath and hoped the punishment for underage drinking wouldn’t be too strict and that it wouldn’t make his words untrustworthy. “I was celebrating my college’s birthday. We went out at about 10 pm and I met this guy, Rolf, but I didn’t know his name then. He bought me a drink and-“

Keith kept talking. The start of the tale wasn’t pleasant, but it wasn’t too bad before he got to the part where Rolf was dragging him home and everyone they went past just thought he was drunk. The police officer asked a few questions such as the name of the nightclub, which Keith reluctantly gave. He knew that the club would get in trouble for selling alcohol to minors. Even if no one believed Keith.

It all was a panicked mess and Keith didn’t like the look in the officer’s eyes as he confessed to not know the name of the street that he ended up in. The look didn’t change when he explained that he was too affected by the drug at that point. Keith couldn’t even remember how he got away from Rolf. He remembered his phone but other than that it was all just a mess of panic.

Even talking about the parts he didn’t remember was uncomfortable and the police officer didn’t seem like he believed Keith but he didn’t outright do anything wrong so Keith couldn’t complain.

He even thanked Keith for coming into the station before Keith walked back to Shiro’s side.

\--

“I don’t want to witness against him,” Keith muttered as soon as he and Shiro came back from the station. They had barely walked through the door and everyone else would meet them as soon as their lectures ended.

“Keith,” Shiro breathed out somehow both rebuking and sympathetically. “You have to.”

“No!” Keith denied stubbornly. He knew how it sounded. Him not wanting to put a rapist behind bars just because he didn’t feel like it but he didn’t think he could do it. “I don’t have to do anything. No one can force me to do anything I don’t want to do.”

Shiro’s fire deflated but he still kept strong. “No, of course not.”

Keith looked away and just hummed in response.

“But Keith,” Shiro waited for Keith to look at him but just exhaled and continued when that didn’t happen. “Don’t you want to make sure that he can never hurt anyone else? Wouldn’t you at least feel safer knowing that he can never hurt you either?”

He would never stop hurting Keith and Keith knew that Shiro knew that. There would always be nightmares of what-ifs and moments that Keith felt trapped and defenseless but Keith also understood what Shiro meant and knowing that his attacker was locked up somewhere far away sounded like a sweet song. It was killing Keith that Rolf Taylor’s parents had paid bail.

“What if-“ Keith started unprompted but needed an encouraging look from Shiro to continue. “What if they won’t believe me?”

Shiro exhaled and his eyes softened from sympathy to pity. “They will believe you. There’s enough proof with just your blood and the phone calls. There’re so many witnesses. But Keith,” Shiro put a hand on Keith’s shoulder, “we really need you to tell what happened too.”

“I already told the police,” Keith mumbled so quietly that it was a wonder Shiro heard it or maybe he just saw Keith’s mouth moving and guessed Keith’s words correctly.

“I know you told them but you being in the court would make sure that you get justice.”

“I want him dead,” Keith answered honestly. “That would be a better justice.”

“Me too,” Shiro confessed with a crazed look in his eyes. “More than anyone would believe but we can’t do that and I would sleep better knowing he can’t hurt you or anyone else again.”

“Okay,” Keith answered. “Okay, I’ll go.”

Shiro’s mouth lifted into a soft and sad smile. It wasn’t happy but it was relieved with Keith’s answer. “Thank you.”

Keith didn’t say that Shiro shouldn’t thank Keith for putting his would-be rapist behind bars nor should he have to convince Keith to do the right thing. Keith just accepted that that was how the world was even though it was so hard just knowing what he had to do.

\--

Unfortunately going to court meant that Keith needed someone to represent him. Which Keith couldn’t afford or knew where to find but as soon as he told this worry to the others while sitting in Shiro’s and Matt’s tiny two-bedroom apartment, Lance had gotten a pensive look on his face and excused himself only to return a few hours later telling everyone that he had talked to an attorney. She was willing to at least meet Keith that week.

“Oh, do you have tomorrow at 1 pm?”, Lance asked as if he hadn’t shocked everyone in the room. As if he hadn’t just pulled a lawyer out of nowhere.

“Sure…” Keith finally found the strength to look away from Lance.

Keith heard from Lance about Allura but only barely. She was a cousin of a cousin who graduated from law school in June and needed some cases to her name. Apparently, she came from old money and had therefore agreed to only get paid a symbolic amount. Or apparently, that was what Lance had said when he explained how she would meet Keith in Lance’s and Hunk’s dorm room with all 3 boys present that Friday.

Keith really hadn’t had any expectations for her beyond that. He had for a second thought that she would look exactly like Lance until he remembered that she wouldn’t be blood-related to him, and then his thoughts had been occupied with so much else before he could think more about her.

If he had expected anything it wouldn’t be anything like the woman who walked into the dorm room.

Her skin was a warm brown. Her nose was small and sharp, and her mouth was almost as narrow and full as a porcelain doll. Her blue eyes seemed to shine but not as much as her pure white hair that Keith couldn’t imagine was natural but also couldn’t believe was dyed with how fair her eyebrows were.

Allura was simply put beautiful in an eternal way and looked like the American vision of a melting pot of races. She had a mixture of so many features from so many ethnicities that it would be impossible to pinpoint anything to her.

“Hello,” she greeted and stretched out her hand. Keith was so surprised by her British accent that he reacted a moment later than what would be considered normal. “You must be Keith.”

“Yes, that’s me.” Keith nodded. “And you’re Allura, right?”

Allura simply nodded and sent Keith a smile before moving over to Hunk’s bed and seated herself. She threw one leg over the other and collected her hands in her lap.

“I’ve heard a bit from Lance, but I would like to hear it from you, so I know exactly what the situation is.”

Keith wasn’t sure if he felt comforted about her confidence or put out that she didn’t even question _if_ he wanted her to represent him in court. He didn’t even feel like they had properly greeted each other yet. Keith quickly remembered that he didn’t have other candidates and seated himself on Lance’s bed so he would be facing her.

“Can’t you just hear it from Lance?” Keith leaned forward so his face would be hidden behind his hair and he could look down at the hands that he had placed between his legs.

“No, I would rather like to hear it from you. Lance says that you don’t remember much from the assault, but I would like to know what happened before. Whether we have anything to hide or not and if there’s anything we need to make sure that the jury should know. “

It sounded logical when Allura said it, but Keith still didn’t want to. He wished that he could just hide in his bed for a few weeks and come out to everything being fixed. He knew that he couldn’t so he simply folded himself further into his body until his shoulders touched the bottom of his ears.

“Do-do you want us to go?” Hunk asked and Keith could practically feel the vibrations until Keith shook his head.

Somehow without stalling or saying anything Hunk and Lance sat on either side of Keith as he told Allura everything that he remembered from that night and held his breath as Lance continued from the phone call to the hospital. It was surreal to hear about events that he didn’t remember happening but all the feelings from. Just hearing about how he had sounded through the phone made his heart beat faster and breathing became a chore the more he listened.

He had looked at his hands through everything. How he moved his fingers instinctually to self-soothe and how his hands became fists when he had to force something out.

There was a short break before Allura spoke once more and startled Keith enough to sit up straight and look right at her. “You need to go to the station to turn yourself in for underage drinking.”

“What?” Lance exclaimed as both Keith and Hunk were too stunned to say anything.

Allura’s eyes moved over all three faces with no trace of hesitation. “The defender will use everything they have against you. They can still use it against you in this case, but it would hold far less power if you have already gotten your punishment for underage drinking. You will still be punished for it even if you don’t go down and turn yourself in. However, your punishment will be less severe and your word will hold more power if we can convince the jury that you too truthful to lie or hide anything from that night.”

“I don’t know, Allura.” Hunk fidgeted even more. “It sounds very risky to confess to anything like that.”

Allura turned her eyes on Hunk and Keith felt a chill at the look in her eyes. “And how do you suggest we never mention the two drinks that Keith consumed? And prove it wrong if the defender mentions it?”

“I-I I- don’t know…”

” Exactly.” Her eyes turned back to Keith. The frightening look in her eyes was gone but he still froze up as she looked into his eyes. “You will probably get a fine but otherwise a slap on the wrist for turning yourself in. Worst case is that you get a fine and either community service or suspend your driving license for a year.”

She tilted her head as her eyes went up and down Keith’s whole body. It felt like ants crawling all over his skin, but he didn’t say anything. “It will be your first offense, right?”

“Yes,” he mumbled and didn’t use much force behind the word but Allura seemed to have heard and understood him anyway because she straightened up and took a breath that moved her whole chest. She stood up and offered Keith her hand once more.

“I’ll come with you.” She looked to both sides of Keith before zooming in on Keith again. “The other two can come too but we have to leave immediately.”

Keith took a deep breath, swallowed, and took her hand before following her out the door with Hunk and Lance right behind him.

\--

Keith got a letter a few days later that said that his license was revoked for 3 months and he now had a $100 fine for underage drinking. He didn’t really need a license at the moment but he liked the ability to. His ability to leave felt like the only luxury he had had since college started and it was now taken away from him.

At least the charge would be dismissed if he didn’t get caught doing anything else illegal for the next year.


	2. The Courtroom

It was the evening before the lawsuit and Keith felt both numb and like his body was too small for all his emotions.

All the others had cramped themselves into his dorm room earlier that day and Keith didn’t know if he found it smothered or soothed. At least they didn’t comment on Keith’s inability to hold a conversation for more than a few minutes before his mind drowned the other world out.

Would the jury believe him? Would he have to look into his attacker’s eyes? Would he be let go? How would Keith deal with not only everyone knowing that he tried to put a beloved and popular student behind bars, but that said student would be free to roam?

“Do you want to talk about what happened?” Lance pulled Keith out of his thoughts once more.

“What?”

“You know what I mean,” Lance huffed but Keith just raised an eyebrow. “You know the night that… You know.”

“Why do people bring it up all the time?” Keith scowled at his feet. He wanted to find help in the others’ but was too afraid to see pity in their faces.

“You need to talk about it,” Lance scolded or begged. Maybe both. Keith really wasn’t sure what that tone of voice was supposed to mean.

“I don’t want to,” Keith said simply because to him it was simple. He didn’t want to talk about it so he simply didn’t.

“Are you talking to anyone about it?” Lance asked but Keith kept quiet. Lance knew the answer already so there was no need to voice it. “Anyone who’s not involved in the case?”

Lance sighed loudly but not so loud that Keith knew that it was for show. “You can’t just keep it all in. Talking always helps.”

Keith took a deep breath and tried to calm down, he really did, but sometimes he just couldn’t and just a bit too much of his emotions slipped into his voice as he turned his head and glared at Lance. “It helps _you_ but I need time to think about things _alone_ and maybe I will want to talk about it later but I’m an adult, Lance. I can tell you myself if I want to talk about-about _that_.”

It wasn’t really a lie. Keith _could_ say it but he knew that he probably wouldn’t as he wouldn’t be ready for a long time. It would just be awkward to mention something like that after such a long time that he already knew that he would need after the trial and the memory of what happened dimmed in his head into something he could comprehend and put words to.

Lance and the others tried to lure any reaction out of Keith but he just crossed his arms and tried to calm down. He knew that Lance was trying to help as he had done for what felt like forever, but he felt like a spring waiting until the moment all his pend up energy would be released.

Pidge stood up in a smooth and loud movement. She had tiny feet but instead of treading like a cat, they sounded like two metal bars being hammered into Keith’s wooden floor.

“That’s it. Where’s your hydrochloric acid?” Her eyes seemed to drill through everything until she could see into Keith’s inner thoughts. She seemed to be able to see his confusion through the numbness because she continued. “Let’s blow something up.”

It was a stupid idea. Not only was this the evening before Keith needed to be in front of a judge and lawyers, Keith also needed to not commit any illegal activities if he didn’t want a harder punishment for underage drinking. However, all that didn’t matter as making a tiny bomb and blowing it up on the beach was exactly what Keith needed. It was what he loved and the reason why he fell in love with chemistry as a young child.

Keith didn’t even answer, he just walked over to his tiny collection of chemicals. Both Hunk and Shiro looked like they wanted to say something, but neither did and Shiro drank the last of his water before handing Keith his now empty water bottle.

Keith felt like he was in a haze as he prepared the bomb. He had even made a candle wicks a few months back and although they weren’t the best, they would do the job.

They drove in Allura’s car until they reached Keith’s favorite beach to blow up. It was full of trash in the sand and the water was barely better.

Keith could feel the sand going under his nails as he used his hands to dig the hole for the first bomb. The sun was starting to set, and Keith couldn’t see exactly what he was touching. There were rocks and dead plants. Maybe it should have grossed Keith out but all his focus was on preparing for his bomb.

The others were a good distance away but he could feel their eyes on him. He could feel Hunk’s anxiety, Shiro’s and Lance’s slight disproval and the Holts excitement, but nothing could beat how Keith’s heart pounded the inside of his ribs. He could practically feel the blood throbbing through his veins in something that felt both like worry and exhilaration.

Keith placed the bottle in the hole and buried the sides of it. It was only when he tried to light his lighter that he noticed the wind screaming in his ears, but even that couldn’t stop him. The flame took a hold of the wick and Keith ran backwards until he was back by his friends.

The blow deafened the wind and threw the sand in the air and soothed the storm in Keith into a mild breeze.

\--

“Did you see the defended put the drug in your drink?” Rolf Taylor’s defender asked Keith as he sat in front of the court, the loved ones, and spectators. The defender was a man around his 50’s with dark gray hair, tan skin, and sunspots. His eyes could have looked warm, but the glare turned his brown eyes into something entirely else. His suit was pristine and must have been tailored to him while Keith had rented his.

“Do you really think I would have drunk it if I had?” Keith asked rhetorically.

“Please answer the question, Mr. Kogane.” The defender butchered Keith’s last name, but there were too many important things for Keith to even think about correcting him.

“If I had seen it, I would have thrown that drink far away from me,” Keith explained but it wasn’t good enough.

“Did you or did you not see Mr. Taylor put anything in your drink?” the lawyer asked once more.

Keith’s hands curled into fists and his eyebrows furrowed. “No, I did not see that.”

“So you’re saying that it’s plausible that he did not insert the drug into your drink, that you were consuming illegally,” the defender looked around at the other people in the courtroom, including the unamused judge.

“I guess?” Keith answered. “And I have taken my punishment for the two drinks I drank. They have nothing to do with this.”

“You breaking the law that night has a lot to say about your character,” the defender lectured Keith as if he had been out getting drunk right before an exam.

He turned to look at the courtroom again and ended up talking directly to the jury. “Who do you believe, the word of a star athlete without a single mark on his record or,” he turned to look at Keith, “An overlooked foster kid who broke the law the same night he has accused the accused of having attempted to rape him.”

“Objection!” Allura exclaimed as he stood up. “What has Mr. Kogane’s status as a part of the foster system or the fact that he consumed two drinks that the defendant bought him? In a case of illegal alcohol, wouldn’t Mr. Taylor be just as guilty since he supplied said alcohol?”

“Objection granted,” the judge said as he hammered his hammer down. Keith didn’t know if it was an official judge thing to do or if it was in fact just to shut Allura up before she started talking further about the American law system’s take on alcohol.

The defender’s eyes went back to Keith and he could see the desperation. It should have been a good sign but it reminded Keith of a wild animal backed into a corner. Keith almost expected the defender to jump over the stand and physically attack him.

“Did you leave the bar with Mr. Taylor after this?”

“Yes…” Keith tried to see into the defender’s eyes for an answer to why he was asking this but found none and just made himself sound unsure.

“Really?” The defender turned so Keith got a clear view of his profile and the defender was facing the jury. “And can we trust the memory of someone who was proven to under the influence of Rohypnol?”

Keith wanted to protest but he didn’t know what to say. An embarrassing big part of him wanted this all to just be over. It didn’t matter what happened to Rolf Taylor as long as Keith could get peace from this. As long as the jury and everyone in the audience would stop looking at him. Pitying him. Judging him. Seeing how dirty he was. How broken. Did they think that he drugged himself? Would this all end in Keith needing a defender so he wouldn’t go to jail for having drugs slipped into his drink?

“How sure can we even be that the man in the phone recording is in fact my client?”

Keith could see the jury taking this to them. Fortunately, the recording was deemed unfit for the public and had only been heard by the judge, the lawyers, and probably countless people at the police station. It would be shown to everyone in the jury before making their decision on the sentencing. It unnerved Keith that these 10 people would hear about a night that Keith couldn’t remember and hadn’t even heard the full recording of. These 10 people who would decide the fates of both Keith and Rolf Taylor and now looked at the defender with sharp eyes and unsure eyes at Keith. Maybe they had already made a decision?

Allura had said that it shouldn’t be possible for Rolf Taylor to win with all the evidence against him, but his defender seemed to have won the jury over with just a few short sentences.

The defender went back to his table with a smug glint in his eyes and Keith was allowed back to his own feeling everyone’s stares boring into his skin and leaving a weight greater than he could bear.

At least Allura seemed to have a new fire in her as she stood up just as Keith had sat down.

“Your honor, I request that either of the parents of Mr. Taylor is shown the recording so they can attest if this is in fact their son or not.”

Keith wasn’t sure if this was even allowed in a court. It felt like something a police officer would ask, but that didn’t matter as her fiery words left a block of ice in Keith. More people would hear him grunt. To be completely defenseless and at the mercy of someone. To need someone to save him.

The judge looked at Allura for a moment but then gave a nod and looked over at the Taylors.

“Very well. Mrs. Taylor, will you please come with one of the police officers to a backroom? You will be listening until the 3-minute mark. “

Mrs. Taylor looked at her husband and son and stood up before remembering to answer the judge with a timid, “Yes, Your Honor.”

Then they went to the backroom. Keith knew that she was not shown the full clip and some time was taken to finding the room and simply sitting down, but it felt like they were gone for longer than needed. Like Mrs. Taylor and this officer had all the time in the world to listen to the recording and laugh at Keith or find a way to spin this into Keith’s fault, or something just as cruel. Keith almost felt like this was all his fault and he could feel traitorous tears running down his cheeks. He didn’t want anyone to notice but the only thing keeping him from sobbing was the knowledge that his friends were right behind him.

Finally, the door to the courtroom opened again and the judge simply asked if Mrs. Taylor could confirm that it was her son in the recording.

She didn’t do anything for a moment and Keith was afraid that she was going to say no. That it had been someone completely else and how could Keith accuse someone and ruin their life?

However, Mrs. Taylor didn’t do anything until the judge repeated his question and pulled her out of her daze.

Her head turned ever so slowly and Keith couldn’t really see her face from where he was sitting but her voice ran through the room she let out an answer that sounded more like a sob, “Yes.” She inhaled deeply and her voice was much wetter when she continued, “It’s him.”

Rolf Taylor started to cry when his mother wouldn’t stop and the judge told everyone to be back after a 20-minute break.

Keith went out to the bathroom as soon as the break had started with Pidge as his tiny bodyguard.

She was small and she couldn’t defend him using physical strength but he felt safer with her by his side. With any of his friends really and the more the merrier but he felt too visible for everyone in the room already and didn’t want to attract more attention by being in a big crowd.

They should maybe have thought it more through with Pidge being a girl and Keith having to go to the men’s room with his attempted rapist potentially using the same one. He had never hurried through peeing as fast as he did then but he was still glad that he had ordered Pidge to wait out front instead of going in with closed eyes or getting one of the others as she had offered.

Keith heard shouting before he even touched the doorknob to the hallway and it only got louder when he opened the door.

“Don’t leave me, mom!” a voice cried out so pitifully that Keith didn’t even recognize the voice before he saw Rolf Taylor’s face twisted in pain.

Pidge sent Keith a side-glance when he stood next to her.

“His mother had heard too much already,” she stated as if she was simply telling him that it would rain but it was enough of an explanation for Keith. “Wanna go back to the courtroom?”

Keith thought about it for a moment. On one hand, he didn’t want to be close to the predator if he could help it, but on the other hand, he didn’t want to catch Rolf’s attention either. In addition to that, he got a sadistic joy out of seeing Rolf cry over his mother taking steps away from him in the middle of a court case.

“Are you going to leave me too?” Rolf asked the man in front of him who Keith assumed was his father. They looked very similar except his father had wider shoulders and arms. Not to mention the thick layer of extra fat around the waist.

“Yes,” his father said with a calm and freezing cold voice.

“Don’t either of you love me anymore? It was _one_ mistake, dad!”

“You know we love you more than anything in the world, but we’re not blind.” Rolf’s father shook his head in disbelieve over his son. “I’m sorry that I failed you, Rolf.”

That last part confused Keith and Pidge too if how her head fell back and tilted in the corner of Keith’s eye was any indicator.

“I don’t know where we went wrong with you but I don’t want anything to do with this. You ruined someone’s life!” he raised his voice and didn’t seem to care that it was in a public place. Keith didn’t think he registered anything other than himself and Rolf before his eyes met Keith’s for a split-second before continuing glaring at Rolf. “He’s just a child.”

He took a deep breath and looked at the door to the outside. “Your mother, she needs me.”

“ _I_ need you!” Rolf cried and looked pleadingly at his father.

His father swallowed his emotions and took heavy steps away.

“Let’s go,” Pidge whispered, and Keith nodded without even looking at her. He couldn’t turn his eyes away from the scene in front of him.

Rolf Taylor looked as if his world was falling apart as his parents went back into the courtroom. Keith remembered seeing Mrs. Taylor kiss her son’s cheek earlier that day. She had whispered something to him and had stroked his cheek when he had whispered something back to her.

Now she hurried away from him and left him alone in a hallway with guards.

Keith was so perplexed that he didn’t even properly react to Pidge taking his hands and pulling him back into the courtroom.

\--

Allura asked all the right questions when Rolf Taylor was on the stand and all the right ones when Keith went up after him.

It had felt like a triumph even when Keith knew that the jury was listening to his phone call to Lance. The time ticked by too slowly as the jury discussed. It took an hour before they emerged but judging from Allura’s quick inhale at the sight of them it had been shorter than expected.

Everyone became seated and only one lone member of the jury stood up when the judge asked for the verdict.

“Guilty,” the man said and sat down.

“Rolf Taylor you are found guilty of one count of carrying illegal substances, one count of drugging another person, and one count of assault with intent to commit rape,” the judge summarized for everyone.

Keith could almost jump out of his seat in joy as a hush fell over the other site of the room. That was until the judge decided on the exact punishment and Keith could taste the bile in his throat as he listened to Rolf Taylor get away with so much less than he deserved. It felt like so much less than what he had put Keith and probably others through.

Keith tried but couldn’t conceal his sobs entirely as the judge decided on a verdict.

“I sentence you to 6 months' incarceration in the Santa Clara County jail with the opportunity of parole to be followed by 3 years of probation. During these 3 years, you’ll participate in a sex offender rehabilitation program and must register as a sex offender.”

\--

Days went by and Keith could still hear whispers everywhere he went but he slept better knowing that at least he would be safe for the next 3 months and hopefully forever.

Everything was still a mess but at least Allura was working on a restraining order. Even if she probably couldn’t get one that would last more than 2 years, it would be so much better than fearing everywhere he went in under a year.

Parties had never been Keith’s thing but maybe one day he would go back to one. With a restraining order against Rolf Taylor and his friends by his side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is on purpose that I haven't written a more detailed description of how to make a bomb. Both because I don't know the exact recipe for one and because I don't think it's a good idea to write to everyone how to make one ;)
> 
> Also, the justice system is not always just. Rolf Taylor (which is and has always been actually Rolo, if anyone's curious) got the same sentencing as Brock Turner. It's not the exact same cases but I wanted to see one from the US (especially California where I've read up on the laws on underage drinking for). 
> 
> If there's anything that I got wrong or just could improve in general, please tell me. I'm just a simple Danish student nurse and have almost no idea about the laws in the US, I don't see all my grammar mistakes, and I would love to improve my writing even if this isn't the best example of my abilities :)


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